Empty or Full

DEVOTION

1 CORINTHIANS

EMPTY OR FULL

1 Cor 1:13-17

13 Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized into the name of Paul? 14 I am thankful that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, 15 so no one can say that you were baptized into my name. 16(Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I don't remember if I baptized anyone else.) 17 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel — not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.

NIV

So united we stand as we already discussed, but we have to wonder if Paul was the only one send to preach the Gospel. Are not we all supposed to share/preach the Gospel? Or are we just supposed to receive the grace of God and keep it all for ourselves? Most of us have probably heard people say they can’t preach, or they can’t talk very well, at least when it comes to telling the story of Christ. They sure can babble on about everything else, but not about Jesus. “Oh I can’t remember the scriptures to quote” has been heard all too often as an excuse. “I witness with my life” is another great excuse. If we can only see it is not our words that make a difference in a person’s  life, but it is the words that are inspired by the Holy Spirit. Paul knew that truth, he did not have any of the scriptures, if fact he wrote the, with the power of the Holy Spirit. Human words are just empty noise because human wisdom is nothing compared to the power of the Holy Spirit. So we need to just get out there, is some form or another, in faith, knowing that God will fill our mind, mouth or fingers  so we can speak, or write powerful words about the Gospel. We can share the message of Jesus Christ with others, bringing them the message of salvation. Now it is true, they will still have a choice to make, but without ever finding out about that choice they are lost. This is what we all should be united about and work together to get the message out, rather than spending our time degrading another believer because they do not believe exactly the same way we do, arguing over whether we should sprinkle of dunk, or whether we should be baptized in the name of Jesus only or in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost. Or any host of things we can come up with to divide ourselves. No, we should be united in spirit and power to spread the Gospel and not in the power of our own words, but in the power of the Holy Spirit, just open our mouths and let it flow right out from Him. There is no doubt there are many who have far greater human wisdom then some of us have and if we simply try to share the message from our human wisdom we surely deplete the power of the Christ, but if we share with God’s wisdom what would happen? Empty or full.